Collateral Damage

Do you know this person?

Well, you may THINK you know her. Oh sure, you may say, "That's Karen, the blushing bride of our music leader, Jim. She's the sweet one with the Southern Belle accent."

Well, it's time you knew the truth. During a recent gathering of families and friends, an innocent game of trivia was started. Oh sure, we were keeping score, but there were no prizes and therefore no real incentive to win.....or CHEAT. But yet, dear readers, that's EXACTLY what she did!!! Despite filing protests with the Board of Trivial Pursuits, Karen was declared the winner that night, and to this day I have not been able to look at her the same, and a war has raged between us ever since. Sadly, she has taken it to a new level. At our recent "Back to School" party (note innocent children swimming in the background) she attempted to assault me while I was not looking by launching a large, wet pool sponge in my general direction. Fortunately, she throws like a girl, and said sponge splattered against the head of my lovely bride, Deana. This is a picture of Karen in the seconds immediately following the attack. "Collateral damage" is a term used in wartime to describe uninteded destruction in the general area surrounding but not including the intended target. And my poor wife was a victim of it. Gen. William Tecumsah Sherman said one time in a speech that "War is hell....", but not on this day, my friends....not on this day. It was downright hilarious. Justice prevails.

Teen Camp 2008!!!

Teen camp is always the highlight of the summer and this year was no exception!!! With sponsors Deana, Ismael, and Emily, we took off for five incredible days at Lakeview Camp!!
Here's Allison just before her "mysterious" headache set in.....

....and maybe it wasn't the best idea to put Emily in charge of morning devotions....
.....and it probably wasn't wise to allow Ismael to actually speak to the Teens.....
....we took every opportunity to pose....
....(see what I mean?).....

....praise!!.....
.....pose some more...

......advertise....
.....pray.....
....practice some counting....

......worship in small groups....
.....praise some more!....
.....again with the counting?....

...carrying one another's burdens....
......posing a little more..
...praising a LOT more...

.....a little more posing for good measure...
....moderate partying...
....posing with some pouting for good measure....

....and finally ending with one last pose.

It was an awesome week, and hopefully the blessings and challenges that God presented us that week will continue to stay with us into the coming school year!! Thanks to Deana, Emily, and Ismael for getting us all there and, more importantly, bringing us all back!!

Have you met Amber?

Remember those cards and notes we sent to our new Worship Leader's family before they moved here from North Carolina? Especially to his 13-year-old daughter, Amber? Well she's HERE now and she's already just one o' the gang! Meet Amber! She's soon to be 14, and is home schooled. If you wanna take her out to dinner, her faves are Chinese, pizza, and subs like Jersey Mikes (don't think there are any of those in South Austin!). If you want to melt her heart with a song, try singing "No Air" and "Luv Song" to her. Her favorite bands are the Jonas Brothers, Superchic, and Barlow Girl. If you were in Sunday School last Sunday you heard her talking about the time she almost died when she was at Camp Living Water (ironic, but I digress) and the inner tube she was on went down a waterfall, flipped over, and she was pinned underwater! Thankfully a guy saw her go under and pulled her to safety!! Crazy scary! Her favorite movies are "Pirates of the Carribean" and "Finding Nemo". Her favorite thing to do is dance. "I've been dancing for like 8 years and do ballet, pointe jazz, modern, and some tap. I'm a singer and i've been singing my whole life. I'm teaching myself (or TRYING to teach myself) guitar, and that's about it!"

We're glad to have ya, Amber! [Editor's note: Be careful....she's feisty and has a 'tude!]

The Mother of All Quizzes!!!

Okay, first of all, you KNOW what Quizzing is, right? Let me look it up for ya real quick....here it is..."Quizzing - verb; death by intense Scripture memorization." That's right. It's pretty much a team of kids who have single-handedly memorized Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians, and Philemon. You take THAT team and line them up against ANOTHER team of equally brilliant Scripture memorizers and the last one standing wins the bloody mess!! It's an amazing spectacle of knowledge, tactics, and chair jumping and if you've never seen it, you gotta!! But what's happening now is not your momma's quiz...nope, this is colossal...this is the World Quiz!! That's right, the only thing bigger is the COSMOS Quiz and you can't get there from here unless you travel at light speed for 14 years and most teenagers aren't allowed to stay gone that long. So for now, this is as big as it gets!! And our very own Katrina (pictured here on the right, with co-team members Hillary and Stephanie) are duking it out on a global scale even as we speak!! And do you know what's the coolest ever? You can WATCH Katrina live on streaming video tonight (Thursday) at 9:30 p.m. at this address: http://www.q2008.org/stats and click on the "Video" link, and play the video for room Wiley 111. It's awesome!

Pray for Katrina as represents us and as she travels back from the quiz in Idaho!! We're so proud of you, Katrina!! Woot woot!!

If you want to see a picture of some of our other youth group members on the South Texas District website, check this out: http://www.southtexasquiz.org/

Emily is here for the summer!

If you haven't had a chance to meet Emily yet, you're missin' out!! She grew up in our church, then went off to Southern Nazarene University, has assisted her folks at Life Springs Church, and is now helping us out this summer with camp, Bible Studies, and all kinds of activities!! You've already had a great time with her at camp and she'll be around for the whole summer!! A few things to help you get to know her better....her favorite movie is "Cool Runnings" and her favorite band is "probably the Backstreet Boys (haha)". If she had to choose her favorite song right now it would have to be "Girl America" by Mat Kearney. Her most embarassing moment? "In 8th grade I was a cheer leader for the Hudson Bend Middle School Buccaneers. At a basketball game we had made signs to spell "Go BUCS!" but we accidentally got it backwards and ran in front of the whole school cheering with signs that said "Go SCUB!". The crowd just looked confused and we didn't realize that we had it backwards until after we ran around the whole gym. That was pretty embarrassing." When she "grows up" she is "planning on being a theatre/spanish teacher in a middleschool or highschool. If that doesn't work out I'll most likely pursue a career as the Backstreet Girl."

It's great to have ya, Emily!

Better Homies and Gardens!!

Just in case you are not an avid reader of Better Homes and Gardens like I am, I have included a page from this month's issue here....recognize anyone? That's right!!! It's Nick and Sabrina, along with their mom and sister in a Lay's Potato Chips ad!!! You guys are all that AND a bag o' chips!! (sorry....I REALLY am sorry....I couldn't resist!)

So long for now, Savanna!

Savanna, it's hard to believe it was only 4 short months ago that you joined us from Houston!!! You jumped right in with both feet and it was obvious that you would fit into our little Church family right away!! You brought your own unique style of humor and zest for life and you have just plain cracked us up!!

It definitely will not be the same without you around here, and we hope you will come back to visit us and Cousin Allison again soon!!

We love you and are so thankful for the time we had together!! May God bless you as you brighten lives of your new school and Youth group in Houston!!